Chapter 5: Let Me Give It a Try.
As Lisa touched the green orb, it seeped into her hand as if water were soaking in.
A small gasp of astonishment escaped her lips.
“Wow! This feels really strange. It’s like I just got a vitamin shot or something?”
With a curious and slightly mischievous expression, Lisa turned to Gang-ho, raising her hand to show him.
“……”
Fortunately, nothing seemed to have gone wrong.
But Gang-ho didn’t hide his surprise.
“What do you mean, why are you not scared at all?!”
Despite Gang-ho’s admonishment, Lisa was completely unfazed and spoke her mind.
“It’s not that I’m not scared; I just think I know what this is.”
Satoshi, perhaps sharing her curiosity, quickly interjected with a question.
“What is it?”
Gang-ho silently watched her, waiting for her explanation.
“Well, scientifically speaking, it’s quite complex and might get lengthy, but, um, how should I put this… Energy Core? That expression might fit well enough.”
She elaborated that it was as if her human heart had undergone rapid gene mutation, resulting in a kind of state transformation akin to liquefaction or vaporization.
After her explanation, Gang-ho was clearly following along.
So, to help Satoshi who looked like he had fish eyes, she gave one more simple example.
“Do you enjoy anime or manga that feature magical spells or sorcery?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Then you can think of it as something like an essence that appears in such stories.”
“Oh!”
As Lisa successfully conveyed her point to Satoshi, Gang-ho noticed a change in her condition.
‘Hmm?’
Among the various entries, one that hadn’t been present before appeared beneath [Grade].
[Name]: Lisa Azbel.
[…]: ……
[Grade]: LV. 1
[Enhancement]: 2%
Without needing to think much, Gang-ho could make one guess.
‘If the enhancement is linked to the grade, then when that percentage reaches 100, it seems I’ll level up to LV. 2.’
According to Satoshi, Wolf should have a similar entry as well.
So, Gang-ho immediately checked on Wolf beside him.
[Name]: Wolf
[…]: ……
[Grade]: LV. 1
[Enhancement]: 2%
Just as expected, Wolf’s stats were the same as Lisa’s.
Naturally, this led to a curiosity about his own status.
‘If that really is what the zombies leave behind…’
He had dashed through a swarm of zombies filling the corridor.
Most of those zombies had exploded into bits.
‘Status.’
[Name]: Han Gang-ho
[…]: ……
[Grade]: LV. 2
[Enhancement]: 12%
His guess turned into certainty.
And he recalled what Lisa had said while absorbing the Energy Core.
‘Saying it felt like vitamins. That refreshing sensation I felt while running down the corridor was actually that.’
It seemed he had inadvertently absorbed Energy Cores with each zombie he defeated.
But as he understood this, he cocked his head.
The calculations didn’t add up.
‘The zombies in the corridor—I’d say there were at least over 30 of them.’
Lisa and Wolf each absorbed one, and it resulted in 2%.
By that calculation, he should have at least over 60%.
‘Could it be that I couldn’t absorb them?’
Or maybe there were orbs left unabsorbed in the hospital corridor?
That couldn’t be.
He hadn’t seen them on the way out.
But Gang-ho soon thought he might understand the reason.
‘Ah, it’s a capacity difference!’
Unlike the two at LV. 1, he was LV. 2.
This meant that even for the same Energy Core, the required value to meet would be different.
He shook his head slightly and let out a long breath.
Hmmm.
If they all shared their thoughts, it wouldn’t have been an issue at all, but since it was data only he could see, the speculation and judgment fell solely on him.
Whatever the case, with everything roughly falling into place, he felt a little lighter at heart.
“Since we killed a lot of zombies on the way to Dr. Lisa’s examination room, do you think there are any Energy Cores left?”
Curious to confirm his initial guess, he asked, but Lisa shook her head.
“I doubt there will be any. It’s been too long.”
“Why?”
“They oxidize rapidly in nitrogen.”
That meant they would disappear when exposed to the air.
‘Energy Cores, huh…’
As he organized this new information in his mind, he stood up and checked the time.
“17:32:30 left until the 10th floor lockdown. It’s already been nearly seven hours.”
It was a clear sign of urgency, one that no one would misunderstand, not even Wolf.
Grrr.
“How do we get to the platform?”
Lisa asked slowly, surveying her surroundings.
Typically, travel between shelters relied on shuttles that ran on a fixed schedule or personal mobility devices.
However, with the power cut off now, those modes of transport were no longer available, hence her question.
Satoshi was the one to answer.
“We have no choice but to walk or run.”
“……”
Lisa’s stiff expression revealed her thoughts completely.
‘Did I ask that thinking nobody would know?’
The glance in her eyes caused Satoshi to lower his head meekly.
“I’m sorry!”
Seeing that, Gang-ho tilted his head.
‘Why is he panicking like that?’
In fact, there was a secret weakness of Satoshi’s that no one knew. Ever since he was a kid, just repeating exercise and training, he would feel inexplicably intimidated whenever he saw pretty Caucasian women.
Gang-ho brushed away the brief awkward atmosphere and asserted the plan.
“We have a tight schedule unless we plan to burst through the shelter walls in a straight line. We have no choice but to pass through several shelters, and we’ll be moving on the shortest route possible.”
It was suddenly a blunt way of speaking, but it felt perfectly natural.
As if reminding them of the precise objectives before a mission briefing.
“Our destination is the platform located at the center of the shelter. We’ll have to move through at least five shelters to get there.”
Although this varied per floor, the basement 10th floor consisted of 12 shelters, each having its own function.
Three units were bundled together, and these bundles were connected to a hub shelter.
‘So we have to pass through half the shelters.’
Listening to Gang-ho’s explanation, Lisa nodded slightly.
It certainly felt like he had leadership qualities and reassured her.
Three hours had passed since Gang-ho and his team began their journey to escape.
Fortunately, there had been no major issues, and dead bodies occasionally appeared in their path.
While he was curious why those bodies hadn’t turned into zombies, they needed to move quickly, so he set that question aside for now.
“We’ve crossed two shelters without incident, but as you can see, the number of corpses and bloodstains is increasing little by little. Don’t let your guard down, stay sharp.”
As Gang-ho cautioned them, the door to the connection corridor between shelters opened.
Ziiing.
Clank.
The moment they stepped into the corridor, Gang-ho in front suddenly halted.
The two behind him sensed something was off as well.
“Ugh! What is that smell?”
Satoshi complained, his nose wrinkled, and Lisa calmly replied.
“It’s the smell of blood.”
“Ugh!”
Satoshi could certainly distinguish the smell of blood.
However, it was different from the numerous bloodstains they had passed until now.
While Satoshi gulped in astonishment, Wolf growled and moved closer to Gang-ho.
Grraaaar.
Wolf’s ears twitched rapidly in all directions, and his nose was incessantly sniffing the air.
Watching this, Gang-ho had a hunch.
‘Something is over there.’
Perhaps it was a clue to sensing danger; he carefully scanned his surroundings once more.
Blood pooled throughout the corridor linking the shelters.
Particularly, it concentrated in front of a closed door on the other side.
Feeling a strong sense of foreboding, there was no time or path to turn back now.
“You two stay here.”
Gang-ho took precautions and set up a defensive barrier.
Wiiing.
Soon, arriving at the barricade, he briefly sensed the presence beyond the superalloy door.
Naturally, he couldn’t feel anything.
‘No time to hesitate.’
Gang-ho immediately pulled the hatch lever.
Ziiiing.
Clank.
As the door swung open, Wolf, who had been right behind him, started barking.
Bark!
Grrraaar!
Grraaaar.
Following that, Satoshi’s panicked voice reached his ears.
“Ugh! What is that?!”
While he didn’t show it, even the composed Gang-ho was equally startled.
GAAAHH!
Shhrrr.
What stood there, releasing a breath or some bizarre sound, was a giant that looked to be at least 3 meters tall.
In its large, boulder-like hand was a blunt weapon smeared with flesh, blood dripping from it.
Around it, many people were piling up corpses.
But what truly sent a shiver down his spine was for an entirely different reason.
‘A psycho? No, just a monster?’
At first, he thought it was covered in tattoos or had a pierce-filled body, but no.
The whole body was crudely plastered with human face skin, much like a patchwork.
The sight was, to put it mildly, horrific.
Turning back with some concern, he found Satoshi covering his mouth with both hands, backing away hesitantly.
Wolf, surprisingly, held back from charging, while Lisa appeared remarkably calm.
‘Ah, she’s a doctor.’
As Gang-ho looked at her, their eyes met.
She said something he didn’t expect.
“Let me give it a try.”
“……?”
Thinking he hadn’t understood her meaning, she confidently approached Gang-ho.
Then, something she hadn’t shown until that moment caught his attention.
“Huh?”
Heat haze flickered around Lisa’s hands.
Watching the distortion of space due to the heat, he saw her hands turning red and yellow like molten metal in a furnace.
Fsss.
Gang-ho instinctively recalled her supernatural ability.
– Ability to manipulate the Four Elements.
Her transformation expanded, engulfing her whole body in flames.
‘No, she is the fire itself. It’s like she’s spontaneously igniting.’
Lisa stretched her hands forward and began to recite a chemical formula.
At that moment, the wild flames surrounding her shot straight toward the giant, resembling a ragged golem.
BOOOOM!
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